The Sleeping Car Porter

I'm going to preface this review by saying that award winning novels and I don't usually fare well together. Sadly, that was the case for me and The Sleeping Car Porter, the 2022 ScotiaBank Giller Prize winning book about Baxter, a gay Black man who works as a train porter, crossing the country from Montreal to Vancouver, to save enough money to attend dentistry school.

This book was very slow moving and there wasn't much of a story, to be honest. Initially, I was interested in reading a portrayal of what life was like for Black porters during the 1920's in Canada. But the plot focused on the minutiae of Baxter's responsibilities and experiences on the job - from his unreasonable, overbearing bosses to his demanding and privileged customers who refer to all Black porters as 'George'. I felt there was a lack of emotion in the book and paired with the somber, melancholic feel throughout, I struggled to be interested in the plot and never became emotionally invested in the characters.

The Sleeping Car Porter had a great premise and was set in an interesting historical era, but ultimately, it disappointed me with a tedious story that, despite its short page count, had me struggling to finish it. Due to my past experience with prize winners, take my review with a grain of salt. Clearly, I'm in the minority on this one.

My Rating: 2 stars

Author: Suzette Mayr

Genre: Historical Fiction, Canadian, LGBTQ, 

BIPOC author, Historical Fiction

Type and Source: Paperback from public library

Publisher: Coach House Books

First Published: Sept 27, 2022

Book Description from GoodReads: When a mudslide strands a train, Baxter, a queer Black sleeping car porter, must contend with the perils of white passengers, ghosts, and his secret love affair

The Sleeping Car Porter brings to life an important part of Black history in North America, from the perspective of a queer man living in a culture that renders him invisible in two ways. Affecting, imaginative, and visceral enough that you’ll feel the rocking of the train, The Sleeping Car Porter is a stunning accomplishment.

Baxter’s name isn’t George. But it’s 1929, and Baxter is lucky enough, as a Black man, to have a job as a sleeping car porter on a train that crisscrosses the country. So when the passengers call him George, he has to just smile and nod and act invisible. What he really wants is to go to dentistry school, but he’ll have to save up a lot of nickel and dime tips to get there, so he puts up with “George.”

On this particular trip out west, the passengers are more unruly than usual, especially when the train is stalled for two extra days; their secrets start to leak out and blur with the sleep-deprivation hallucinations Baxter is having. When he finds a naughty postcard of two queer men, Baxter’s memories and longings are reawakened; keeping it puts his job in peril, but he can’t part with the postcard or his thoughts of Edwin Drew, Porter Instructor.